Identifying existing constraints in carbon footprint calculation tools and addressing the improvements to bim

Abstract

The world faces “an inconvenient trouble” of global warming which is immensely catalysed through the emission of different forms of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). Construction industry is a prominent sector which accounts for a higher percentage of GHGs emission to the globe. Buildings embody and consume a large fraction of energy and cause for more than 50% of the carbon emission of a building during the whole life span. Therefore, the need of curtailing embodied carbon emission from construction is essential. In order to address this issue, an emerging concept of “Carbon Footprint” has been introduced to the modern construction industry. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the method which holds number of tools to assess the carbon footprint of a product. However, these assessment tools enclose number of limitations which barricade the precise assessment of carbon footprint. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technology which has an ability to optimize the energy efficiency in the buildings. Thus, the research aims to address the potential of using BIM to quantify the carbon footprint in the construction industry over the existing non-BIM LCA tools. To accomplish the aim, a qualitative research approach was followed. The topical study exhibits that, BIM can be identified as the most suitable option among existing tools which should be upgraded to improve the accuracy and reliability of final output by mitigating the existing shortfalls.